Joe Biden’s ‘Heil Hitler’ moment: How American democracy finds itself badly divided and dehumanised

According to Godwin’s law, this article risks undermining the argument that it seeks to advance for it makes a Hitler or a Nazi comparison at the very onset. But the optics of Joe Biden’s speech in Philadelphia last week — the red and black backdrop, the soldiers flanking his sides, the dim lighting, the upshot camera angles, the aggressive body language, and most importantly the dehumanising message — had “Heil Fuhrer” written all over them. Attacking MAGA Republicans, who make up a large section if not half of America’s population, Biden thundered that these millions of Americans were fanning the flames of violence and authoritarianism, and that each one of them was a threat to the very foundations of the republic.

The trend of dehumanising large sections of the population to polarise the electorate is a bad omen for any democracy. Whether it is conducted on the lines of race, religion, caste, or political leanings as the case in America is, they are all fundamentally the same phenomenon — a message from a certain authority putting a target on people’s backs and denying them the protections and rights that a democracy entitles them to, based solely on the assumption that their identity makes them lesser mortals. This is the sanctimonious mindset that has led to riots and genocides, and even enabled the creation of concentration camps in what are supposedly democratic setups.

According to many American analysts, among the reasons that Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential elections, contrary to expectations, was the “basket of deplorables” remark that his rival Hillary Clinton made about his supporters. When a presidential nominee dehumanises more than a hundred million Americans in three seconds, people start asking themselves what kind of future they are staring at in the event that they are not fully in sync with the dispensation that they intend to elect.

However, dehumanising large parts of the electorate is not a sign of democracy being in danger in the United States. Rather, it is not the only sign, and can perhaps be considered the mere tip of the iceberg. The credibility crisis that American democracy faces, not just internationally but at a domestic level and amongst common Americans on both sides of the political spectrum, is as significant a red flag for democracy. Millions of Americans still believe that Donald Trump stole the 2016 presidential elections with the help of Russia, despite every inquiry into this alleged theft repeatedly falling flat. Conversely, millions of Americans believe that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen by Joe Biden, with thousands of Biden ballots being added to various counts in the dead of the night.

The credibility crisis on either side has attained such extreme proportions that large sections of the population have stopped taking unfavourable electoral results seriously anymore. Trump’s election in 2016 resulted in several meltdowns, protests, online trends about how he was not their president, but most disturbingly, calls by serious commentators to take a relook at the American electoral college system. Those making such calls did not grasp the irony of the situation- that they were on a quest to save democracy because democracy had thrown up a result that made them uncomfortable.

Democracy, they were conditioned to think, was a system that would overwhelmingly agree only with the choices they made. The Trump camp was no different, storming the Capitol upon the supposed realization that Biden’s theft of the elections had been successful. Although many conspiracy theories about the instigators being planted by the deep state have gained traction, Trump has not helped the case for American democracy, promising to pardon the rioters if elected again.

Normalising violence in the event of unfavourable outcomes has pushed the country into a vicious downward spiral, with vandalism, loot and arson becoming commonplace among radical sections on both sides of the political divide. In the wake of the American Supreme Court overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade judgement that made abortions a constitutional right, the sitting mayor of Chicago used social media asking people to take up arms, insisting they would not surrender without a fight. Increasingly, the country finds itself in certain situations wherein bereft of the mental conditioning of what the United States represents, these instances could quite easily be mistaken by outsiders for a tin-pot dictatorship or a lawless region being fought over by local warlords.

When the 2020 presidential elections remained disputed for over a month, the rest of the world might just as easily have asked both sides to display restraint and de-escalate, like they do for supposedly weak or failed states. They might just as easily have advocated for a peaceful transition of power, and offered to mediate. Essentially, the mental conditioning of what the United States represents, is the only factor that stopped them. The United States is by no means a weak or a failed state. There is little doubt however that the great American empire, the leader of the free world and the champion of democracy, is sitting on a fragile foundation in these regards domestically.

While polarisation and a credibility crisis shake American democracy at its very foundation today, there is a sinister angle to it that mainstream commentary conveniently sidesteps. Increasingly, however, it is becoming harder to ignore, especially in the wake of Hunter Biden’s laptop. Although the term ‘neutral media’ is fast emerging as the most apparent oxymoron the world over, what the American mainstream media pulled off was nothing short of Orwellian. A story that would have altered the result of an election to an office that is arguably the world’s most powerful, was systematically and concertedly killed across the spectrum the moment it surfaced.

Perhaps the viler culprits were the big tech platforms that serve as the suppliers of news, who came together and choked the flow of this story entirely. Most secrets and scandals never make it to the public domain, but for those who function as guardians or pillars of democracy to conspire and censor a story that did make it, only with the intention to avoid a particular outcome, gives a sense that it was a fixed match from the beginning with institutions at every level being co-opted for it.

Results or outcomes being predetermined, with institutions working overtime to ensure that no deviation from the memo occurs, is the very antithesis of a free and fair democracy. Fundamentally, there is little difference between such a scenario, and Hosni Mubarak’s democracy, which the Americans overthrew among many others on principle.

In the run-up to the 2016 elections, the fact that the system or the deep state preferred one outcome over the other and was ready to trample on electoral practices for it, was gradually becoming apparent. The largest smear campaign in human history, the questionable manner in which the Democratic primaries treated Bernie Sander’s candidature, and even a major television network leaking debate questions to one of the candidates, came across to certain sections as brazen attempts by the establishment to cheat. The suppression of Hunter Biden’s laptop and the admission in hindsight that its contents were indeed legitimate, has only reinforced the notion that the elections are a farce, held only to place the establishment’s candidate in the White House.

If democracy is in danger in any major part of the world that takes it seriously, it is the United States. American democracy faces a threefold danger as elaborated upon — the danger of sidelining large sections of the population from the electoral process on the basis of their identity, the danger of a credibility crisis due to a political class that is too immature to accept unfavourable mandates, and the danger of an establishment that routinely tramples on every pillar of democracy to get its way. The archaic voting system of ballot papers in the land of big tech, has only enabled these dangers. The lack of independent media has exacerbated the situation, with various interest groups being deeply invested in order to kill or drive certain narratives. The system granting leeway to excesses including the breakdown of law and order for political causes, has compromised the rule of law.

Under these circumstances, America as the hegemon of a liberal or a rules-based international order is being taken less seriously, if not in other respects then certainly in terms of the values it espouses. Its project of universalising democracy steadily lost credibility through the decades, as it became increasingly apparent that ulterior motives were driving many regime-change efforts. What is happening today is different however, since the country is also losing its status of being the foremost advocate of democracy. A large part of it is because many pronouncements from American shores passing judgment on the rest of world in these respects, are now coming across as a joke.

For example, American judgement on democracy, and other factors such as press freedom, have now become a laughing stock in India. Recently, a leading American newspaper wrote an article about the setback that press freedom had received in India when one of the country’s foremost business magnates, a supposed ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sought to gain control of a TV station that was considered anti-establishment. The doubts about the magnate’s political allegiance and the relevance of the TV station aside, the American publication became the butt of all jokes the moment Indians realised that it was owned by one of America’s foremost business tycoons.

The hypocrisy stood out due to the nature of the story, but in reality, it far exceeds this one instance. The American publication in question is not just co-opted by the establishment completely, but has been a leading in the smear campaigns and the suppression of stories that have systematically undermined American democracy. While there is little doubt that democracy dies in darkness, there is no doubt whatsoever about who blocks the light.

Although the treatment that American judgement evokes in India today is just one of the many examples from the world over, it is a notable one. India is after all the oldest, the largest, and the most technologically-advanced democracy in the world. Every subsequent election breaks the old record of being the biggest one in human history, and the transition of power takes place smoothly each time. It is no wonder then that when an inferior or junior peer in this respect comes up with indices that indicate a decline in India’s democracy, press freedom, or religious freedom, it can easily be dismissed as an object of ridicule.

With the Americans making it easier for democracies around the world to laugh off the judgement they pass, it is perhaps time to ask ourselves whether laughing about it is the right approach. For the sake of democracy, and for the sake of 330 million Americans, perhaps it is the moral duty of democratic nations around the world to question them constantly about their declining democracy, and work towards solutions that enable it to escape the compromised state that it lies in currently. Factors like controlling the most powerful military, the largest economy or the most superior technology does not mean that the foundations of democracy remain intact by default. Nor does it mean that the American establishment is beyond accountability. In fact, if anything, it is these factors that should push other democracies to ensure that the Americans do not slide further in this respect, for nothing would be more unfortunate than the misuse of what the great American empire has built only because it rotted from within.

The writer is an author and political commentator. He has authored the book, ‘Himanta Biswa Sarma: From Boy Wonder to CM’. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.

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